HEYLANGFORD.COM

... RIP HeyLangford!? Ver 2.0 (2012-2015)

... so welcome to my new site everybody!? Finally got a case of inspirado over the weekend and put the new site together. I was considering a couple other platforms to build this new one but it's tough when I've been with Weebly since 2008 (I think).

The layout is based off a template from another platform I really liked, similar to how my previous site was based off a Tumblr page I made for fun one day... well it was more about parking "heylangford" everywhere I could on the net! (Band Tip: you should make sure to do the same with your band name too! What if you become ultra famous???)

... truth is, it's been done for a few days now but I ran into a minor (major) snag at the very end.

Despite only posting the odd time the last several months, I feel like my blog is a big part of my site... especially during my travels. I like to share the experiences with everyone and this is an easy way to do it... and despite being a Weebly blog (opposed to a Wordpress), it gets a fair amount of traffic.

So at the very end of creating my new site, all I needed to do was import my blog.

... import my blog.

... just gotta export my blog from my old site, and bring'er into the new one.

*search Weebly help, search Google... *

... so apparently this is not possible... and something people have been asking for as far back as 2010 and most recently September 4, 2015... so it's safe to assume it's not possible... as of today... right now.

There are some work arounds to migrate the blog out to other sites/platforms but they're quite tedious.

So late last night, after day 2 of searching for a way to do this, I flipped my mental coin, backed up my old site (sans blog of course) and started migrating my new site and replacing the old one... and hit publish.

It didn't take long (about an hour) since all the pieces and layout were done. I'm sure there's still a few bugs to work out, but overall it wasn't too painful.

Actually the most painful part was the feeling of deleting my old site (courage to destroy!)... meanwhile (afterwards) comparing the two sites was apples and oranges. Going back and looking at the old site, it felt and looked really old and outdated... and this is coming from a guy who works in an industry where people are still arguing about recording to tape! Because it sounds better!

Function is the key though... and my old site, although better than my first one, was still pretty brutal on iPads and smartphones... and half my website traffic is from smartphones. I take into consideration how much has changed since 2012 online but still...

... we scroll down (or pull up), that's it... so layout the story the way you want people to read it!

The last thing I'd like to mention about this whole process... Weebly is basically a free platform. Yes, I do pay for the PRO user subscription but there's still a lot of things to know about the service they provide and how they operate... one of them being how your content is treated... example, not being able to really (easily) export the contents of your blog posts, even within the platform.

I always keep this in mind when people complain about things like Facebook changes. In the digital age you have to always keep in mind what you control and what you don't, what you own and what you don't... and what you do and don't pay for.

You don't own much after it's put up online... and anything digitized is fair game!

All that being said, I'm still a happy Weebly user and hopefully the blog thing is resolved in the near future. It's still a great way to quickly put a website/blog together.

Thanks again for checking out my new site.I'd love to hear what you think!- Mike :-)